Provide a 8 pages analysis while answering the following question: Illegal Downloads of Music. Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide. An abstract is required

Provide a 8 pages analysis while answering the following question: Illegal Downloads of Music. Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide. An abstract is required. In redefining the meaning of music in its consumerist capacity, the meaning of music in cultural influence also changes. There is an argument to be made that in providing free music or allowing file sharing, the promotion of music makes up for the lack of revenue. However, the real change comes from the diminishment of power that is being experienced by the corporate-controlled music industry as it no longer can control the content that is in the hands of the consumer.&nbsp.

Digital music has placed the music business in a vulnerable position. Illegal downloading has created a bleeding industry in which the revenue that supports the industry is being lost through the technologies that provide consumers with access to the work. Chris Rojek (2011, p. 17) creates an argument against illegal downloading of music in which he states that while the rise of digital downloading through legal means has been at 940% between 2004 and 2009, during that same period the sale of music decreased by 30%. This indicates that the mere production of legal downloads has not been enough to stem the tide of illegal downloading. Furthermore, gaining music for free through legitimized means such as YouTube has provided for anyone to have access without paying for the privilege of having risk associated with the act of accessing music for free.

Copyright is an important factor in the discussion of the impact of illegal downloads on the music industry. Without copyright, there would be no claim upon which to determine if sharing files is illegal. Marshall (2005, p. 39) writes that one of the first fundamental changes in the relationship of music to commodity occurred when the UK Copyright Act of 1814 when copyright began to be valid throughout the life of the author of a work.&nbsp.The rippling effect was to add the author as part of the value of the work. In the case of illegal downloads, it can be argued that value is being shifted once more into the public ownership of the works and away from the authors of the works. When music becomes more nameless as it is not acknowledged through monetary payment, it can be said that the music is taken from the authors and placed in the hands of the masses. Navigating digital download technologies means redefining the nature of music ownership (May 2002, p. 119).